Tag Archives: team

Floorball: For Women

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Sonderborg’s floorball club, the Vikings were advertising the setting up of a new team for women in the new year. The first training session was yesterday, so I decided to go along.

What is Floorball

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Floorball is a type of floor hockey, where two teams with sticks try to get a holey plastic ball into opposing goal nets. It is mostly popular in Scandinavia, having been developed in Sweden in the 1970s. I had never heard of it before moving here, but it seems to be a common sport played in schools, so most Danes know the basics.

First Training Sessions

The first training session was, I would say, a success. We were 22 women in ages from older teenagers to (according to Sonderborg Floorball Club) 61. The participants varied from what looked like quite experienced players to at least one person who had never seen a floorball stick before (me!). We first did some basic exercises, walking with a ball and passing a ball back and forth between us, before being divided into 4 teams and playing some short games between us.

Want to Join?

If you are over 15 (and a woman) and you’re looking for a sport (or something to do on a Monday evening!) I would encourage you to give floorball a try. The club has all the equipment needed, so all you need to do is turn up. Being a fairly new thing also means that there will be other people in the same boat as you and, hopefully, we can all get better (and fitter) together.

Training sessions: Mondays 19:00-20:00 at Kløvermarkhallen

If I had to say something about my experience, I quite enjoyed it and will definitely be back. It is, of course, very Danish, which means that there was barely an introduction, I still have no great idea how to hold the floorball stick (or how to select one) and no one told me their name (unless asked directly…a couple of times)! I hope that over time I will learn all this. But anyways, don’t let this scare you off! It’s all part and parcel of getting along with Danish people in Danish spaces. So it’s all good!

Other teams

Sønderborg Floorball Club has three other teams which are Youth 7-11, Youth 13-15 and a Senior Team for men. You can try and contact the club via the website if you are interested in one of these teams.

Sønderborg Cycle Club is evil

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The local road cycle club Sønderborg Cykel Klub (SCK) recently released a promotional video for the club and road cycling. The video is imitating a movie trailer with a deep voiced speaker and declarations like “The best bicycle club in the world”, “We are evil” and “We taler dansk”.

SCK offers cycling and competitive cycling for people of all ages (from 9 years old and up). The club’s aim is to create a team spirit and show that you can have fun while doing a competitive sport.

If you are interested you can join the weekly team training. If you are interested send an email to the chairman so he can let the trainers of the day know that a newcomer is joining. You can train with the club for while to try it out before you become a paying member. There is no requirement of being in a particular state of fitness in order to join, for instance can adults start training with the young adults in the beginning.

The club has some borrow-bicycles that people interested in the sport can borrow. Primarily the bikes are in sizes for 9-17 olds. In order to borrow a bike you need to pay a deposit and the worn parts (breaks, tires etc. need to be replaced).

To become a member sign up here.

The Sønderborg based production company Zoom Film is behind the film and it looks like parts of it is shot with a drone around Dybbøl Mølle and some parts on Kær Halvø.

Try out Cricket in Sønderborg

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This is a guest post by Vivek Menon a member of Sønderborg Cricket Club.

Did you know you could play the sport of Cricket right here in our lovely Sonderborg? What the hell is Cricket – most of you may ask?

Well here is the Wikipedia version – Cricket is a bat and ball game, played between two teams of 11 players each. One team bats, attempting to score runs, while the other bowls and fields the ball, attempting to restrict the scoring and dismiss the batsmen. The objective of the game is for a team to score more runs than its opponent. There are many rules to the game which are better understood by checking out this basics video.

It is a team sport and considered to be Gentlemen’s (and Ladies’) game with a rich history and tradition. What makes cricket stand out from football and other team games is that it has a more gladiatorial feel to it. It’s not an even 11 vs 11 contest but more of a 2 vs 11 uneven battle in the ring. The batsmen, like the gladiators of old – go out to the center with a bat, some protection and helmets to face a hard leather ball which is being thrown at them upto 100 Km/h which swings or spins in the air and after pitching and have to survive.

Cricket Sonderborg

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To the serious fans of the game it is best encompassed by the a quote from Jon Arlott:

“Cricket is a most precarious profession; it is called a team game but, in fact, no one is so lonely as a batsman facing a bowler supported by ten fieldsmen and observed by two umpires to ensure that his error does not go unpunished”

For the more light hearted fans/interested people the famous American comedian Robin Williams has a more apt definition:

“Cricket is like baseball on valium”.

It is game invented by the British and played in over 100 countries today including Denmark. Many of you would be surprised to hear that some of the oldest football clubs in Denmark started as Cricket clubs when the British came here to build the Danish railways?

So where can you play this game in Sonderborg. Well the Sonderborg Cricket Club has been recently formed and they are currently using the grounds of the Uklebol school (Just behind of Park Kollegium). During winter they are playing indoors in the Klovermarken hallen. They practice almost all Thursdays (from 1700 hrs) and Sundays (from 1000 hrs). Everyone is welcome to come and join in or watch the action.

The club currently has about 20 members living in Sonderborg and Flensburg. It includes players from Danish, Indian, Pakistani, Srilankan and Afghani backgrounds. They are looking to increase their membership and invite both children and adults from all backgrounds.

The aim of the club is to spread the message and team spirit of cricket and supporting integration of all nationalities living in Sonderborg. They will be present at the Sonderborg Kultur Nat on 24th August – so be sure to catch them there.

So are you or your kids ready for battle? Become modern day gladiators? (Kids will play with rubber balls)

For those who would like to read more about cricket in Denmark in Danish please read more at Dansk Cricket Forbund.